Meditite Line/DPPt
Meditite line can be found during the main story of both Diamond/Pearl and Platinum. It can be found in Route 210, 211, 216 and 217, as well as Acuity Lakefront and Mt. Coronet (1F and B1F only) in all versions, and in Diamond/Pearl it can also be found in Route 208. Medicham is also obtainable in Route 217, Acuity Lakefront, Mt. Coronet (2F and up), and Victory Road. The Meditite line possesses one of the game's best abilities in Pure Power, which boosts its unassuming Attack up to titanic levels. With decent speed, a very useful fighting STAB, and wide coverage, Medicham can and will sweep all sorts of enemies into submission... provided it doesn't kill itself first. It also requires very little in the way of resources, which is always a plus. It does require some patience as Meditite doesn't learn any useful moves until level 29 and its stats are pretty low (even after Pure Power) until it evolves, but it definitely will pay off if it is raised. (Or you can just run into a Medicham later, feed some Proteins and skip all that early hardship. That would work too.) Important Matchups - Platinum = * Gym #3 - Fantina (Hearthome City, Ghost-type): Lol. * Rival (Hearthome City): Nope. Meditite is still too weak at this point to fight anything that isn't exceptional weak or weak to fighting, and none of Barry's team members fit those bills. * Gym #4 - Maylene (Veilstone City, Fighting-type): It's possible for Meditite to match up against Maylene's own Meditite and Machoke, as the opposing Meditite only has Confusion and Fake Out that hits neutrally, and Machoke only has Brick Break and Rock Tomb. However, your own Meditite also likely lacks any move to hurt her Meditite with, and Machoke still has statistical superiority, so it will still be a struggle. Lucario is a no-no; while it is weak to Force Palm, it will likely slaughter Meditite with Bone Rush before Meditite can even get a move off. * Rival (Pastoria City): With Hi Jump Kick learned most likely, some of Barry's mons become easier to fight... namely, his Ponyta and Buizel. The starters and Roselia are best left off to someone else though, and Staravia is a big nope. * Gym #5 - Crasher Wake (Pastoria City, Water-type): All of his Pokemon are evolved and fast or durable, or both. Unless you already have a Medicham, stay away. If you already have a Medicham however, then it becomes much more useful as Thunder Punch will slaughter Gyarados and Floatzel, while Quagsire isn't very strong. * Cyrus (Celestic Town): You're much more likely to have a Medicham at this point, and Zen Headbutt is also accessible at this point. A Meditite will still be able to kill Sneasel easy, but the other two have Flying moves and thus should be left to other people. Medicham will be able to easily outspeed Murkrow and kill it in one hit, but Golbat may still outspeed and annoy - Medicham CAN kill it, but it would prefer someone faster doing the deed instead. * Rival (Canalave City): Barry's team members are all fully evolved at this point, but hopefully Medicham should be evolved too. Medicham will definitely be able to kill all opposition in one hit if it has the appropriate moves, although Infernape and Staraptor will hurt Medicham badly before they go down due to superior speed and access to Aerial Ace. Rapidash and Floatzel will also outspeed but they won't be able to hurt Medicham very much. * Gym #6 - Byron (Canalave City, Steel-type): Kick them all to death. Steelix might actually survive a hit due to extremely high defense, but its attack isn't nearly as high so there really isn't much worry about Medicham getting killed in one hit. * Saturn (Lake Valor): The difference between fighting him in Platinum is that Medicham has Zen Headbutt now, which will maim Toxicroak in one hit. Bronzor will die to one Fire Punch as well, but Golbat ironically is the toughest opposition and should be left to someone faster as usual. * Mars (Lake Verity): See Saturn for Golbat and Bronzor. Purugly will die to one Fighting-type move of any kind, but it has Fake out and will outspeed and Slash a second time. If Fake Out hits Medicham for more than 22% or so, it might best to switch in someone tankier as a critical Slash will kill Medicham. * Gym #7 - Candice (Snowpoint City, Ice-type): Her Sneasel is really fast and knows Aerial Ace, but it won't kill Medicham before it goes down in one hit. Piloswine and Abomasnow are slower and easily disposed of. Froslass is off-limits though, what with 110 base speed and STAB Shadow Ball. * Cyrus (Galactic HQ): Sneasel and Honchkrow will go down easy, and Crobat is still going to annoy Medicham before going down. * Saturn (Galactic HQ): Basically completely the same as last time. * Mars and Jupiter (Spear Pillar, tag battle with Rival): If you want to, kill a Bronzor with Fire Punch (whichever possesses the screen that's more difficult for your team to deal with), then switch out. Golbat will still annoy Medicham a lot, Purugly now knows Shadow Claw and Aerial Ace, and while Skuntank is possible, it has a good chance at outspeeding Medicham and hits hard. A frail glass cannon attacker isn't someone you want to field in a climatic double battle. * Cyrus (Distortion World): Cyrus's team isn't very kind to Medicham. Houndoom is faster and can burn, Crobat is Crobat, Gyarados may outspeed and Giga Impact, and Weavile's one hit will hurt badly. Honchkrow is the most possible one here for Medicham to KO before it can do anything. * Giratina (Distortion World): No. * Gym #8 - Volkner (Sunyshore City, Electric-type): Bar Luxray all of his Pokemon will outspeed Medicham, though Electivire is the only one who can actually hit pretty hard. Medicham can slug through this for you, but it isn't really the best choice for doing so. * Rival (Pokémon League): Pretty much the same as last time. Stay away from Staraptor and Infernape, and Medicham will be able to deal with the rest. Barry's new Snorlax obviously doesn't factor into this at all. * Elite Four Aaron (Pokémon League, Bug-type): His leading Yanmega may be faster and has Air Slash, but the rest of his pokemon bar Drapion will die easily to Fire Punch. Drapion can actually fight back, but it should still go down before it can kill Medicham. * Elite Four Bertha (Pokémon League, Ground-type): Whiscash should still go down in one hit easily. Gliscor is dependent on if Medicham has Ice Punch; it doesn't know any Flying moves so Medicham will survive its attack before freezing it back to the Ice Age. Hippowdon will go down in one hit too if Medicham's level is decently high, and neither Golem nor Rhyperior's physical bulk will save them from being shattered in one Hi Jump Kick. * Elite Four Flint (Pokémon League, Fire-type): Flareon is slow and frail and will be killed easily before it can do anything. The rest of his team can be pretty fast, however (Magmortar isn't as fast but it probably has a level advantage), and they can hit very hard especially in the Sun. Medicham might be able to kill one of them, but do use caution, and do not even attempt if Sunny Day is up; Flare Blitz will definitely OHKO Medicham with a 50% boost. * Elite Four Lucian (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): Bronzong is the easiest pick here as it will go down fast to Fire Punch before it can do anything funny. Medicham should not attempt the others however; Alakazam and Gallade are unlikely to be OHKOed and they are faster; Espeon will just smash Medicham with Shadow Ball before anything else can happen, and Mr. Mime just sets up screens in Medicham's face. * Champion Cynthia (Pokémon League): Spiritomb is immune to both of Medicham's STABs and has Shadow Ball; Lucario is faster and also has Shadow Ball, Togekiss is probably faster and has Air Slash. Aside from these three, Roserade and Milotic are possible, and Garchomp... should go down in one Ice Punch, but without Reflect Medicham is not likely to survive first contact. * Post-Game: With the enemies getting stronger, Medicham's frailty and only halfway decent speed will become more and more of a problem. Its damage dealing ability remains top notch though, so it just really needs to be a bit more careful to remain useful. }} Moves As Meditite and Medicham are both commonly found, its starting move can vary a lot. However, there are only two level-up moves on Meditite's list that are of any use: Force Palm at level 29 and Hi Jump Kick at level 32. Hi Jump Kick has 100 base power and 20 PP and will be very strong, but it only has 90% accuracy and a miss will screw Medicham over above and beyond what a miss normally can do. It may be worth it to keep Force Palm in addition as Medicham really doesn't need that 40 extra BP to KO Fighting-weak targets, though Hi Jump Kick may very well be necessary to KO hardier targets neutral to Fighting. After evolution, Medicham will be able to relearn all of Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch, and both it and the rest of the team will greatly appreciate the extra coverage provided by these moves. Even in Platinum where these moves have much wider distribution, being able to learn them with Heart Scales instead of shards is still a plus. Meditate is a possible choice for boosting attack as well, but a 1-stage attack boost is not going to be very useful on something as frail as Medicham, and it also loses to X-Attack (unless the run's rules forbid X-items). In terms of TMs Medicham does pick up some nice things, but it doesn't really need them. Rock Slide is an asset to most Fighting-types, but the triple punches already give enough coverage that Rock Slide is just redundant. Brick Break would normally be the best reliable move for Medicham to use, but again Medicham doesn't really need it when HJK is already good enough. However, if you're raising a Meditite below level 29, it will desperately need some physical moves to use its attack with, and there are some good early options for doing so, including Rock Smash, Strength in D/P, Return in Platinum and Rock Tomb. In Platinum, Medicham can learn Zen Headbutt from the Route 212 Tutor. Aside from being a more reliable neutral STAB than Hi Jump Kick, it also deals with Poison types readily, making it a good choice to pick up. However, it does mean Medicham will no longer be able to learn all three elemental punches at the same time. Ice/Thunder offers the best coverage, but Fire is also a great choice for taking down bug-types and all those Bronzor you will see, so it's best to adjust based on what the rest of the team have. They can all be relearned for a single Heart Scale (which is everywhere in Underground), so you will be able to swap them around without too much trouble as well. The best item for Medicham to hold is obviously Wide Lens. It raises Hi Jump Kick and Zen Headbutt's accuracy to 99%, which greatly increases Medicham's safety. Recommended Moveset: Hi Jump Kick, Zen Headbutt (Platinum only), Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Force Palm Other Meditite's stats Medicham's stats * What Nature do I want? Attack and Speed are good to raise, and Special Attack is good as a dump stat. Medicham's offensive power is still good even with a hindering nature on Attack, though, so Speed is probably the most important one. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? As soon as possible. There isn't any move that Medicham wants from its level-up move list after level 37. * How good is Meditite line in a nuzlocke? The answer largely depends on what stage of the game you're in. Since Pure Power doubles the attack stat which includes IVs and more importantly EVs, Meditite line needs a bit of training (or a few Proteins) before it can shine. It also suffers from fairly late evolution and a useless level-up moveset before level 29, and until evolution its use is mostly restricted to killing randoms. However, once it evolves (and gets some Attack EV under its belt), it becomes one of the best glass cannon attacker in the game with a useful Fighting STAB and wide coverage, all backed up by jaw-breaking hitting power, which makes it basically an automatic death sentence to 80%+ of randoms and most boss Pokemon who have lower than 75-80 or so base speed. In any case, Medicham doesn't need TMs and only really wants one Platinum tutor move, so using it will mean that its teammates will have more freedom with their own movesets. * Weaknesses: Flying, Ghost * Resistances: Fighting, Rock * Neutralities: Normal, Poison, Ground, Bug, Steel, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark * Immunities: None Category:Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses